Mark's Inner Darkness
by IntergalacticAuthor
Summary: This is part 2 of the ISF Origins: Markiplier trilogy If you've read Markiplier vs. Darkiplier then you know where this is going. If you've read Markiplier vs. Darkiplier The One Shot then you know where this is going. This is what really happened that day. And it really messes with Hawk's plans, a lot. Which is way more than she bargained for in the first place.
1. Chapter 1

**Visual Log: 201.5497**

**Agent: Mark Fischbach**

**Setting: My apartment, LA**

I took my hand off the mouse and leaned back in my chair. Sighing heavily, I leaned forward and saved the last seven hours of recording my failed attempts of beating Five Nights at Freddie's 20/20/20/20 mode. I leaned back again and stared at my screen as it shut down.

That nagging feeling in the back of my mind came back again. Why was it so important that I keep dreaming that I was in space? I was never in space. It would be amazing if that was true. But it didn't happen.

I smiled and thought about the woman who was always in that reoccurring dream. The place keeps changing but it's always the same. I'll go to sleep and I'll wake up in the dream and see her. She'll smile and take my hand and we'll go do something.

Last night when she woke me up we actually flew over the most amazing scenery I've ever seen. She never talks to me. She only shows me different things. But I spend most of the time looking at her.

From what I've seen and remember, she's a bit shorter than me, she has long brown hair in a pony tail, she has tan wings and she's always barefoot. I can't form a face; I never can after I wake up. But I feel like I know her.

I sighed again and got up. I checked my phone and yawned. 10PM is getting kind of late. I made sure the front door was locked then went upstairs, changed and went into the bathroom. I turned on the light and looked at myself in the mirror.

"I even look exhausted…" I mumbled and put my finger tips on the dark circles under my eyes. I took off my glasses and set them on the counter. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face. When I looked up, the dark circles were gone. "Maybe that game is getting to me," I mumbled and thought nothing more of it. I picked up my glasses and went to bed. I put them on the night stand, turned off the light and pulled my covers over me. I found my Tiny Box Tim plushie and tucked him to my chest and tried to sleep.

I fell asleep pretty quickly and expected it to be her waking me up like before but it was dark. It was dark for a really long time. I heard muffled sounds of a voice I didn't fully recognize. The voice chuckled and then stopped. I felt that I was sitting in a chair and I was holding something.

When I heard the buzz of the fan I figured it out. I was dreaming of Five Nights at Freddy's and I was in the game. This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare.

My grip tightened around the screen I was holding and I did not want to look up. I didn't want to be here. I remember how much this game terrified me when I first played it. Even an Oculus version would be less scary than being in it. Even though I knew how to play and this wasn't really the game, I didn't want a game over. I looked through the different camera screens and saw that they were all in place. "At least Foxy isn't out yet," I whispered.

"They won't move Mark."

My own voice startled me. But I didn't say that. Reluctantly, I put down the screen and looked up at someone who looked a lot like me. He was as tall as me, was built like me. He even has the same hair color but had the fauxhawk I don't really style my hair in anymore. He leaned up against the counter and looked down at the fan. He glared at it then didn't hesitate to push it off the counter. It crashed on the floor and the sound echoed down the hall.

He crossed his arms over his chest, "They're scared of me." He laughed softly, "And they should be." I watched his smile spread across his face. It scared me.

"Who… who are you?" the only thing I managed to say.

"I am you," he answered coolly and glanced out the door then looked back at me. "But I'm not the worst one here." His smile returned and really reflected his dark red eyes.

The lights shut off as the sounds of power fell silent. I was forced into an upright position and forced to turn to the door. I couldn't look away, I couldn't blink and I was struck with fear when Foxy's eyes lit up… shouldn't those be Freddy's eyes? That theme song I've really grown to hate started playing. The eyes flashed in sync with the song.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other me turn towards the door. He laughed quietly and looked down at the floor. "If you're going to scare him, just do it," his laugh died and was replaced with a deep, firm tone.

A moment later the song started skipping and turned into the stuff of nightmares. The blinking eyes turned red and were soon replaced with a very realistic pair of eyes. A smile formed in the darkness and this figure stepped into the room.

He looked like me too, but his red pupils stared at me. What little light was left in the room, shined onto what looked like Freddy's head.

"Hello, Mark." His voice was ridiculously demented, like the other's voice. "I see you've met my friend Dark." He held up the object he was holding and held it closer to me. "I don't understand why this scares you so much." He shook it and oil sprayed out onto the floor and dripped all over his hands. "It really was too easy to rip his head off." He started laughing to himself. He abruptly stopped and his red pupils looked directly at me. "He's right, though. I'm the one that should scare you."

I still couldn't move. I couldn't even flinch when he lunged forward at me.

He laughed more, "He's so scared. I love it." He turned to leave the room and looked at Dark on his way out.

"What?" He asked as he followed his friend.

It was silent for way too long. I knew Foxy had to show up at some point soon… right?

The never ending silence was broken by the theme song as it picked up again, this time it really was Foxy. I watched him as he played through the song and his whole face lit up as it played, which was unusual. The song ended and he stared at me.

I know what's next. Silence then metallic screeching then game over. I braced myself by clutched the security screen that was still in my hands.

"Run!" Foxy's screeched then raced back down the hall.

It made me jump but it wasn't game over. "Run?" I looked forward at the wall, "Why do I need to run?"


	2. Chapter 2

White light poured into the room and soon engulfed me in it. The tablet was removed from my hands and I felt weightless. After a few moments, another hand grabbed mine from below. I was pulled down and when I felt grass underneath my feet I looked into her eyes once again.

She looked concerned and then a little shocked when I rushed into her arms. I hugged her tightly and she hugged me back. She comforted me and had me sit down on the grass with her. She wouldn't let me go.

I heard a voice fade into our surroundings then she asked, "What's wrong?"

I looked at her and she smiled. The same vocal fade in and then she asked, "Mark, what's wrong?"

"You know who I am?" It was too shocking that she knew me to actually answer her question.

"I've known you for a while now." She answered clearer and looked out at something. I followed her gaze.

I held my breath as I took in what I was looking at. We were next to a river that flowed over the edge of a cliff and out across the valley below us. The horizon was lined with snow capped mountains. The valley had rolling hills and forests of trees scattered around it. The same grass we were sitting on was down there too, creating open fields of it.

When I breathed again, the crisp clean air hit me pretty hard. "It's so clean here,"

She looked at me and smiled, "Yes. It is. It's supposed to be." She grabbed my other hand, "It's named Paradise for a reason."

"I didn't die, did I?" I asked soon after, partially assuming so since game over means death.

"No," she let out a quiet laugh with her answer. "You're very much alive, my friend."

"So what now?" I asked, getting up with her. She moved to the edge of the cliff and I stood next to her. The wind hit me right away, nearly blowing me back.

"I'm going to help you calm down before I send you back." she explained and let go of my hand to hold her arms out. "Flying always made you happy," she turned to me.

I watched her tan wings unfold then she put them close to her back. She held out her arm to me and I grabbed it. Immediately I felt my own wings open. She held one foot over the edge, looked at me, pulled her hand from mine then jumped off. I looked over the edge of the cliff and saw that as she fell, she opened her wings. I stepped back as the wind pushed her above me into the sky.

At least I can control this dream this time. I'm still following her, but it's different. It feels different.

I opened my wings and jumped over the edge. The air tugged at my wings and carried me up into the sky. She waited for me to join her before flying away from me. I followed her across the sky. She reached out for my hand again and I grabbed it.

"Hold on!" she shouted and faced in front of her as a circle appeared. On the other side looked like space. I tightened my grip around her hand and pulled my wings to my body like she did right before we went in.

On the other side she opened her wings and flew faster and faster. She didn't really give me a chance to react so I let her pull me. She gained speed quickly and pulled me up to her and wrapped her arms around me. I put mine under her wings and held on. I looked in front of us and saw that things moved out of our way.

I looked at her wings as they started to catch fire then looked at her. She glanced down at me and smiled. _There's nothing like moving through space like an asteroid, huh? _I heard her speak into my head. I nodded and watched her wings turn into wings made of fire.

We left streaks of burnt out particles behind us. The fire soon spread across her skin and onto me. She streamlined her wings as we gained a lot more speed and the fire turned blue then white.

I put my head on her shoulder and let her take me where ever she was going. She was right though, it did calm me down.

She wrapped her other arm around my waist and opened her wings suddenly. She made sure I didn't go flying out into space as she slowed down dramatically. _Well, I tried, but I still can't go light speed._ She smiled as her thoughts formed in my head.

I smiled and put my arm around her neck as I felt the zero gravity catch up to us. She wasn't looking at me though. I looked too and saw a massive space station nearby. She wasn't hiding so maybe it was friendly. It looked like a collection of different rooms and tunnels and had ships underneath it. They were docked. It was huge, whatever it was.

_Head Quarters._

I turned to her and she nodded. _The answers you seek are there. But you can't go there now. And I have to wake up soon._ She pulled me close and I hugged her back. _I'll see you soon, Mark._ She moved to kiss my forehead and everything faded into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up gasping for air and I sat up quickly. I was in my bed, in my apartment and not out in space. I held Tim close to me and laid back into a semi soaked bed. It was only my sweat, but still. I rolled off it and tried to go back to sleep on my side. My heart was a lot calmer now, even more so then when I first went to sleep.

"I do play that game too much, though." I whispered into the faintly lit darkness. "Oh well, gotta finish that one level until I can put it down and finally stop playing." I cuddled my little biscuit to my chest and fell asleep rather quickly.

Darkness surrounded me and I felt like I was slammed into a floor. I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room and slowly got up. "Oh no…" I whispered as I looked around at the fireplace, the chair, the wall and that all too familiar door that was in every single version of Amnesia I'd ever played.

I knew Amnesia really well, but it'll probably be different like Five Nights was. I stood up and was barely able to locate the lantern. I picked it up and held it in front of me. There was no oil to pick up so maybe it didn't run out.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the door. I really didn't want to go out there. I didn't know what horrors awaited me. But I can't just wake up; I have to play the game.

I took a step towards the door and stopped. It opened by itself and a cold wind rushed in and blew out the small fire. I kept the lantern up and looked around the room, careful to not miss things, since I do. A lot.

When I looked around to the side of the fireplace I saw a small wooden box and picked it up immediately. "Tim!" I whispered and held him close. As I held him, he opened his eyes and his stubbly little hands touched my face.

"I'll protect you Mark." He squeaked. I felt tears form in my eyes, "But you need to do what I say. It's not safe here."

I nodded and turned to leave the room. I peeked out the door, the left was a dead end, thank goodness, and the right was a dark hallway.

"Remember to be quiet, Mark." He whispered to me before I wrapped him up in my arm and slowly made my way down the hallway. I held up my lantern and it barely lit up anything farther than three feet in front of me. I felt his small hands on my fingers and glanced down. He was peeking out from behind my hand.

The light reached some paintings that hung on the wall. Each was someone different but I couldn't tell who any of them were. But that didn't matter anyway. Each had claw marks distorting the paintings. Something ran through and scratched them all. I paused to look at them.

"Keep moving," Tim whispered.

I tightened my arm around him and felt his little hands on my fingers. It felt like he was shaking as he looked around my fingers then ducked back behind them.

I turned from the wall and held the lantern up. The light still didn't reach out very far. But it lit up the hall just enough to catch the movement at the end.

I jumped back in fear and bumped into a chair and cringed as the sounds echoed down the hall. I heard my startled scream echo around me.

"Be quiet Mark. You don't want them to find you." Tim said a bit louder.

I breathed in and held my breath. It was so much worse actually being in the game. I can't jump at my own shadow or make any noise that I would do while recording. They'd hear me. Maybe Tim is hoping that I don't meet them. Maybe that's why he hasn't told me who they are.

When the mansion was quiet again, I started walking quietly down the hall. I held the lantern up at the corner where the movement came from and slowly turned the corner.

It wasn't a very long hallway but I ventured in anyway. A few steps in, the light reflected off something on the walls. I stopped and read the same word that Foxy screeched at me in the last nightmare.

Run!

I stared at the word. I think it was written in blood. It dripped down the wall and onto the floor.

But what am I running from?

I turned and bumped into something. I jumped back and almost screamed. I stepped back more and looked at the golden mannequin that had somehow moved behind me. I bumped into the wall and moved away from it. I didn't move the lantern's light off it until I was out of that hallway.

I hate mannequins. Always have. They just freak me out.

I looked around the entry way to the mansion and noted the staircase from the first floor to the second floor balcony. There were two giant wood and steel doors, that I'm sure were locked but they lead outside.

Lighting flashed and lit up the room. It's light reflected off another statue in the corner of the back wall and the stairs. It looked like a fox and was standing up.

I turned to move and jumped back when I bumped into something that wasn't there moments ago. I let out a muffled scream of fear and its eyes opened. I moved back more when I recognized the red eyes and smile from the last nightmare.

Metallic screeching came from the corner and the fox statue ran passed me. It attacked the mannequin but was thrown aside, hit the wall and fell to the floor. It didn't move after that.

I heard a sigh from the mannequin, "Finally." The word rumbled from its throat and moved through its sharp teeth.

I started panicking and couldn't move. I think Tim was tugging at my hand but I couldn't tell. It lurched towards me and I jumped back. I tripped on the table and it broke under me. Tim flew from my hands and all I could feel was an intense stabbing pain in my side. I reached for my side and felt the sharp tip of the shattered table protruding out of my skin.

I tried to move more but the pain was overwhelming. I could only brace myself on the floor and breathe in short gasps. Each breath brought more pain and more reason for me to let out the scream I was holding back.

I looked up to see that the mannequin had moved closer to me. Its smile was cruel and all it did was look at me. I couldn't move.

Maybe I should have actually ran for it when I had the chance.

"I would have caught you, Mark." It laughed. It was the same voice from before too. "Running away from me in your own subconscious only delays the inevitable…"

He was cut off by a bright light that emanated from behind me. A moment later the ground shook behind me and a voice, loud and proud, echoed throughout the room.

"You have something sticking out of your back." He said and knelt down behind me, put his hand on my shoulder and used the other one to pull it out of my side. It didn't hurt at all and I'm not sure why. He put his other hand on my shoulder and practically picked me up.

"Stand up, Mark." He said, letting me stand on my own. I looked at him. This one looked like me too, except he was wearing a black, skin tight outfit complete with pink cape and warfstache on his chest. His boots matched as well.

"Where the hell were you hiding?!" The mannequin screamed at the other me and then ran towards him.

The other me already had his arm around me and moved me out of the way. He effortlessly swung the wood and it hit the mannequin, flinging him into the wall.

He turned to me without missing a beat, "I am the hero within out, Mark. Heroplier, I guess. But you can call me Hero."

I looked at the warfstache and he laughed, "Yes, that's our hero logo."

I actually felt less scared as he talked to me.

"Like my pants," I said as I lifted my leg up. He didn't look at my pants.

"You aren't wearing pants, Mark."

I put my leg down and looked, "This IS a nightmare." I paused, "I mean, it would be if I wore pants all the time."

"Mark! Shut up!" Tiny Box Tim spoke from behind Hero's boot. "I mean, I guess you can talk now since they know where you are." I saw him gesture sarcastically with his little arms as he spoke then put one hand on his face.

"Shouldn't you join us, Tim?" Hero said, looking down at the small, angry box. He backed away from Hero's boot and closed his eyes.

I looked away when he started glowing and looked back when it faded away. The small box was gone but in his place stood a shorter version of Hero, like a sidekick.

Hero suddenly glared behind me then lunged forward and kept something still behind me. Tim pulled me away and I looked back to see hero holding the mannequin's arms still. He was holding another piece of the table. It had almost hit me.

Hero looked at me and I watched his face drop. I let out a scream as I felt two hands grab my arms and pull them behind me. I couldn't fight the pull and fell to the floor. I felt chains around my wrists and couldn't move from where I was.

Someone moved around to face me. The same one who was in my last nightmare was here too. He had the same dark circles around his eyes. The same white pupils pierced into my own.

"Dark…" I whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

Dark smiled and turned to the mannequin, "No I guess you can't see his face right now."

Lightning flashed and was followed by thunder. I saw that Hero had pushed the mannequin away from me. In one swift move, he swung his arm around the mannequin's neck and ripped the head off and watched it fly across the room. The body fell to the floor. Hero looked at me and was breathing hard.

Dark growled as the body flew. He sighed when it hit the ground. "I guess I'm done with that now." He looked back down at me, his smile spread, making it scarier. He moved down and lined up his face with mine.

He started laughing again and looked at the floor. His laughter stopped abruptly.

"You can't run from me, Mark." He slowly looked at me. He raised his hand and moved it slowly above my stomach. I watched his fingers dance as his hand moved closer to my face. "There's nowhere to hide." He tapped my skin.

Searing pain pulsed through my chest and I let out a scream that would have woken the dead. Each breath let out another scream as it got worse. He tapped my neck and I felt something start to strangle me.

I couldn't breathe in. I tried to get away but I was stuck to the floor.

My leg seemed to move on its own when I shifted to swing it. I kicked Dark in the back and landed hard.

He only laughed, "That's not going to help you."

I couldn't get up but it wasn't strangling me anymore.

"No," I looked up and saw Tim beside me. "But I will." He punched Dark in the chest but it only pissed him off.

"Really?" He stood up and looked around. "You send in your side kick and can't even join the fight?"

I looked above us, "Look who's talking!" Hero yelled as he dropped from his mid air attack, held his arm back and when he got close enough, punched Dark's back and sent him flying.

Hero landed near me and I watched Dark fly in the air. He straightened up and slid across the floor on his toes then glared at Hero as he stopped. "So that's how you want to play?" He stood up and started walking towards Hero. He held his arms out to the side a little bit and I swear I saw some dark haze stuff surround his hands.

He started smiling again and as he got closer, he glanced over at Tim. He stopped and raised one of his hands above his head. He looked at Hero then down at me. He lowered his arm then pushed it forward.

It formed a blade looking weapon and he disappeared. I looked around the room the best I could. I saw that Hero did too, bracing himself for anything.

"Works for me," he said from behind Tim. He raised the blade point to Tim and shoved it through his back before Hero could react. The end of the blade poked out of Tim's chest a few inches.

I closed my eyes and I wished I could cover my ears. I didn't want to see Dark kill Tim. I felt myself start to cry when Tim let out a sound that was too agonizing to listen to. His scream echoed throughout the hall and I forced myself to open my eyes.

Tim fell on his knees and the scream stopped. Dark put his foot on Tim's shoulder and pulled the sword out. I started to breathe again. I didn't even know I was holding my breath. I watched in shock and horror as Dark plunged his sword into Tim's chest again.

But Tim didn't scream. Dark bent over, pulled his sword out and caught Tim's body in his other hand. He put his hand on Tim's neck and picked up his body. Tim's arms hung limp at his sides and blood dripped down his legs from his back. His pale blue eyes were still open but there was no life left in those bright blue eyes.

Dark threw Tim to the wall and laughed as his body crashed into the big wooden boxes and crumpled in their broken pieces. Dark lowered his arm and looked at me. I didn't want to scream. I just wanted this to be over.

"One down…" Dark looked at Hero. "One to go," Hero didn't even look at Dark. He only looked at Tim's body.

Hero didn't move when Dark put his hand on his neck. Hero didn't scream when the tendrils moved up his skin and engulfed his face. He only glared at Dark as the darkness covered his eyes.

I froze when Dark dropped his body.

"Two down…" He turned to me. "One to go," His smile turned into laughter again as he walked over to me and grabbed my shoulder. He yanked me from the floor and looked down at me.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he taunted.

I looked up at him, "What the fuck do you want from me!?" I screamed at him.

He tilted his head and lowered himself to face me. He put his palm on my chest, "Your soul." He growled and pulled his hand away, pulling something with it.

My mouth hung open and I forced myself to breathe. I watched him pull a light blue, energized orb from my chest. It was still connected to me with some sort of energy.

I looked at him and he was staring at my soul. He looked less crazy as he held my soul.

He shut his eyes as a blinding bright light formed behind me. Dark jumped back as a pair of arms wrapped around me and grabbed my soul from Dark's hand and pushed it back into my chest. I was put on the ground and she held me.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner," She whispered.

I tightened my arms around her. "I almost died…" I started crying as she held me. She moved one arm to my back and the other behind my knees. She picked me up. I closed my eyes and pushed my face into her chest, not her boobs, her chest, but mostly her boobs. They're kinda big. I knew she was taking me somewhere, I just didn't know where. I felt water on my feet and looked up. She was walking into a small but deep pond. As my whole body was put in, I felt lighter.

"He can't kill you." She told me. "He's a part of you and he can't kill you."

"Sure looked like he almost did." I mumbled and looked at her as I floated above her arms. She guided me in the water.

"That's what he wanted you to see." She continued, "He wants you to feel helpless and weak so you don't fight. He wants you to feel pain so you lose your drive to… survive…"

"Survive?" I asked.

She nodded, "That's the first thing that you need in order to beat him." She gently pushed on one of my shoulders and let me spin slowly in the water. I looked up at the cloudless sky.

After a few moments of that I asked, "How do you always know what makes me relax?"

She put both her hands on my shoulders and looked down at me, "Because it relaxes me too. Flying through space in an unconscious sleep means being able to break physics and doing so. It's like being here while awake." She looked around, "but…It's so much better." I watched her, "And it's only us."

"That's cool, I guess." I replied in a much more relaxed voice than I thought. It made her smile.

"But when you wake up, don't go back to sleep. Go downstairs and do something else." she instructed me. This usually meant that this would end soon. "I'll be there soon to unlock your memories."

"Unlock my memories?" I repeated and tried to face her.

"Yeah…" She answered. "I had to lock them away for your safety and everyone else's safety. It was a quick transition between being human and not being human and I didn't have any chance to train you in any of your powers so I did what I knew I had to do."

"I'm not human?"

"Genetically, no, you're not." She answered. "So don't give blood."

I wasn't sure how to adjust to any of this. I don't remember any of it, obviously. "That doesn't explain the nightmares."

"In the last three months I've been looking into that. Our archives didn't give me much information and neither did the Library, but what I did find out is that because you are more powerful, that darkness was able to also gain power." she didn't even pause to think. "Both you and that darkness are more powerful than before which means that a fight will probably happen. I don't know what its goal is, but it's not good."

"But…" I started to protest.

"You don't like fighting, I know." She answered, "This is more than just a fist fight and it is your fight."

My heart skipped a beat, "You can't help me?"

She looked away from me, "I'm not supposed to fight someone else's internal conflict."

"Why not? You're more skilled than me. You know how to fight. You know how to deal with this…" I really felt scared right now and I just…

She faced me. "Because I kill without giving it much thought." She spoke bluntly. "I'd rip his throat out if I was allowed to." She sighed, "Besides, he can't actually kill you. Well… He shouldn't be able to." She moved her arms around me and held me where I was.

"He shouldn't be able to?" I repeated.

"He's a part of you. It's like a clone trying to kill the original. It doesn't work." She spoke softer. "If he intends on killing you than he will try but he won't succeed."

I didn't ask any more questions. Imminent death was all I could think about as I stared up into the sky.

She pulled me with her as she moved to the edge. She climbed out and helped me up. My briefs dried immediately and she kept hold of my hand and lead me away from the pond.

I noticed that as she walked, a trail of flowers grew in her footprints. I didn't even look around anymore. I just looked down at the trail of various flowers. Most of them I didn't even recognize. But they were really pretty and the further we walked the more exotic they looked. I almost didn't want to step on them. I looked back and saw that they were dying off a few steps behind us. I picked a few and held them as we walked. These ones didn't die in my hand which was nice.

A few moments later she stopped and sat down. I sat next to her. I held the flowers in my lap then looked out… at… the ocean…? From where we sat, there was only a large expanse of water stretching into the horizon and the water was calm. It was peaceful.

I looked at her was going to ask a question but her eyes were closed and she was sitting up and enjoying the air blowing on us. We sat in the grass that was soon covered in flowers.

"Wow…"

The voice, as soft and friendly sounding as it was, made me jump. I looked behind us and saw a large dog with green themed fur.

I looked at her and she held her arm up without even looking. The dog walked over to her, laid down behind her and rested its head in her lap. She gently put her arm down and ran her fingers through the dog's fur.

"I haven't seen you grow flowers in a long time, Hawk." The dog said before looking at me with it's… her dark green eyes.

Hawk breathed in again and spoke as she breathed out, "I know, Ceteareth. I know."

She looked up at Hawk's closed eyes. "He's holding something, Hawk."

Hawk opened her eyes and looked at me. I held up my cluster of flowers and handed them to her.

Ceteareth laughed softly and looked at Hawk, "I think he likes you."

Hawk looked down at the flowers and looked at each of them, "Cordia subcordata is one of my favorites," she smiled and pointed to one of the bright orange ones. "And there's Otacanthus caeruleus here as well." she pointed to the violet-blue flowers.

Ceteareth raised her head and looked as at them too as Hawk put them in her lap. "Arundia graminifolia and Rhizophora mangle. Hawk, are you okay?" She looked at the purple flower and yellow flowers.

Hawk ignored her question and moved the flowers up to her face. She closed her eyes and as she moved them out to the ocean the petals turned into butterflies and flew around us for a few moments before crumbling away into dust. She relaxed into where she was sitting. She looked out over the ocean for a long time.

Ceteareth looked at me and rested her head on her paws. "I'm a wolf, by the way. Not a dog." She snorted then looked out with Hawk.

As we sat there I felt better about the whole thing. But I also started thinking of strategies and various ways to go about it.

"Hey," Hawk said quietly and looked at me. "I'll get someone to help you out with that entire thing okay?"

I nodded and closed my eyes. I felt her hand on mine then her lips met my forehead, like always, and I blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up in my bed and didn't move for a while. I thought about what just happened, my almost death, Dark and how to fight him if I could… It's a lot to take in.

At least I wasn't alone in this.

I sat up and saw the faint light of predawn through the curtains. I slowly got up and made sure I had Tim before going downstairs. At least my pants were still on me.

I made my way to the kitchen, turned on a light and started making tea. Maybe that would at least calm my nerves. As I waited for the hot water I leaned up against the counter and jumped because I wasn't expecting to see anyone there.

"Who are you?" I asked him. He looked like me and wore a black shirt with a light blue L on it. He took off his dark sunglasses and looked at me. His sweatpants hung loosely from his waist.

"I am Light. Hawk said you needed help." He stood where he was and explained himself. "She's also sorry for not unlocking your powers like she said she would. She assumed it would make things worse and since she couldn't be here to mediate it would be dangerous." He watched me get my tea ready then followed me to the couch and sat on the other side.

"I realize you must have a lot of questions," he started. "But I'll just explain myself and then you can ask whatever you want."

I nodded and didn't really know if I should trust him or not. He knows Hawk so maybe he can help me and not kill me like the other one tried to do.

"First of all, I am the opposite version of the Dark you have already met. I can appear in your consciousness as he can appear in your dreams. Although, he keeps getting stronger and I'm not sure when he would be able to do this as well." Light explained. "What I know is that he's up to something and with that helper of his…" he trailed off and leaned back, resting an arm on the back of the couch.

"He wants my soul." I said quickly and pulled my knees to my chest, trying to curl up on the couch.

He closed his eyes, "Shit." he didn't speak for a few moments. "Anything else?"

"No… just my soul." I answered. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if he succeeds, you die." Light explained and looked at me. "But I won't let that happen," he gestured to someone behind me, "they won't let that happen…"

I turned to see Hero and Tim walking up. They stopped behind the couch.

"And Hawk sure as hell won't let that happen," Light finished. "If your life is ever in danger, she'll be here."

I hadn't stopped looking at Hero, "I watched you two die…"

"He can't kill us in your subconscious." Tim answered before Hero could speak.

"But we are up against two parts of you that have embodied everything you aren't." Hero interrupted.

"Which astounds me to no end as to how powerful they are," Light commented.

"Do you know why they're so powerful?" Hero asked Light.

He slowly shook his head, "All I can guess at is that Dark is probably left over anger from something that happened to you a while ago," he turned to me. "And that other one is from a much darker time."

I thought about it, "But I'm not angry or anything anymore so…"

"Negative emotions have a way of sticking around, even after it's all over." Hero explained and held up his arm, "And it always happens when something isn't resolved in time."

Light got up and shook his shoulders to display his white wings I didn't know he had. Hero kept his hand up and turned around to the dark hallway.

"You know I don't care how many of you I have to kill to get to him," A nonchalant voice said from the shadows. Dark stepped out and was followed by the other one.

The other one stepped in front of Dark, "But if you join us, we won't kill you." He said with a laugh.

Dark put his arm out and moved him out of his way. "They've already chosen death, my friend." He aimed for me but they all stepped in to protect me. "Get out of my way!" He shouted and threw dark energy at Tim.

Light deflected it with a fireball then stood in front of Tim.

Dark looked past Light's shoulders at me. We didn't break eye contact for a few moments. He flicked his arm out to the side and grabbed hold of the sword handle from the nightmare. The blade was black and formed from the handle. He moved it to face me.

I breathed in and felt a wave of energy course through me. I slowly got up from the couch and looked down at my chest.

"Your powers can't protect you!" He shouted as he shot a blast at my chest.

I felt waves of energy expand over me and protect me from the blast. I looked at Dark's shocked face. I looked down at an off white shield on my chest. I moved to poke it. I felt that.

I looked up at didn't see Dark anywhere. Hero was looking back at me. Light was already aiming his white sword and was looking behind me.

my back involuntarily straightened up and I looked at Hero. His mouth fell open and he gasped as my forearms crossed in front of my chest and I looked at the ground.

A moment later I heard choking behind me.

"You're human!" I looked over at the demented voice and saw surprise in the red eyes of Dark's friend. I straightened up and heard a body fall behind me. I glanced behind me and saw Dark bleeding from multiple lacerations in his chest, arms and neck. His sword fell out of his hand and he glared at me.

He looked over, "Demon…" He barely managed to say through coughs of blood. He reached out for his friend as he darted over. Demon picked him up and supported him. Dark barely stood up and coughed ferociously. "You will never survive this!" He shouted at me then grabbed his neck. The blood oozed out from between his fingers.

I watched them recede to the shadows then disappear.


	7. Chapter 7

I shuddered, "I hate that neck slicing thing." I reached for my neck and made sure it was okay.

"Are you okay Mark?" Light asked softly, lowering his hands.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, looking at him.

"You just defended yourself with spikes that came out of your skin. Did you not know you could do that?" He said, giving me a sideways glance. He turned to Hero.

Hero shrugged. "He bought us some time. Don't question it."

"I'm not questioning it much. I just thought she locked his powers."

"She did," I spoke up. "She said she would unlock them though."

"She told me personally that she was sorry for not unlocking them." Light discussed, "That doesn't explain why you were able to do that."

"Maybe it's defensive." Tim spoke up, "She locked away his powers but maybe she knew he would need them but not all of them."

"That sounds like something she would do." Light said thoughtfully. "She would take precautions like that." He walked over to me and put his hand on my chest. "This is made of bones…"

I saw glimpses of a small room, with Hawk. I was looking up at her and she was speaking to me. I think I was in pain.

I blinked a few times.

"What was that?" Light asked.

"I don't know. I don't remember that…" I answered.

He stepped back and pulled his sword out again. "Okay, I'm going to try to see something." He aimed it at me. "If Tim is right, then we can use it."

I glanced down, felt and saw the bone shield expand across my ribcage. I looked up at Light, "Um…" Light stepped towards me. My right arm blocked the sword and I felt more bone move through my skin. I looked at my arm and saw three bone spikes locked with the sword.

Light smiled and turned to Tim, "Looks like you are right again Tim."

He smiled and shrugged, "I just think outside the box."

Hero started laughing. I smiled and joined in. Light simply smiled at the pun.

Light breathed in deeply, "Tiny Box Tim was that really necessary?"

"Yes." He said quickly and looked at him with his bright blue eyes.

Light put his sword away. "So it's only defensive and probably only the bone stuff."

I sat down on the couch and picked up the cool cup of tea. "So how do we defeat them?"

Light was silent, Hero joined me on the couch, Tim nudged his way in between Hero and me, and we turned to Light.

"What?" He asked.

"You're kinda the ring leader here." Hero answered, "You usually come up with the plans…"

He shook his head, "I don't know what we could do."

"We could ask for help couldn't we?" I suggested. "I know there's more than just the five of you guys. And I know I consciously created Wilfred…"

"We don't talk about Wilfred." Light said quickly. Hero sighed heavily and stared at the wall.

"He won't be helpful at all. He can't concentrate on anything for more than a second. I swear he has the attention span of a squirrel." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, well, we don't need to try to work with him." Light concluded. "We need helpful not useless."

Silence passed for a while. Tim looked at me then Hero then Light.

"What about King Dark?"

Light was puzzled then nodded, "Not once did Dark talk about him."

"Who's King Dark?" I asked Light. A rush of light flooded into the room and then stopped. I turned around to see another me. But he had long hair, red eyes, a crown, some armor and looked directly at me.

"I am King Dark, Mark." He answered my question with a proud voice. He walked over to us and stood there.

"King Ego is more like it…" Hero mumbled and put his shin in his hand.

King Dark glanced at Hero then back at me. "Stand up." I slowly got up and stood in front of him. He was taller than me. I looked up at him. I didn't like it.

"Why can't I be that tall?" I asked.

he laughed, "You want to be 6'2"?"

"I'm 5'10". Anything taller than that would be fine." I answered as he moved his hand to ruffle my hair. "Stop that!" I swiped his hand away. "You are not that much taller than me!"

He put his arm down and looked at Light. "I was summoned for what reason?"

I turned and looked at Light as well.

"We need your help protecting Mark. Can you do that?" He asked bluntly.

"Why does he need protecting?" King Dark asked, "I thought that's why the space lady got involved."

Light looked angry, "Where do I possibly start? His powers are locked away, she won't intervene until his life is in danger, the only thing he can do is defensive bone movement." He took a deep breath, calmed down and continued. "Dark wants his soul."

King Dark tensed up. "What?" he looked down at his scepter then back at Light, "I know he's messed up but that's going too far." he glanced at me. "And even if I had joined him…"

"You were going to join them?" Hero asked quickly.

King Dark looked at Hero and nodded, "And when I rejected him," He unhooked his armor chest piece and took it off. He turned around and I stepped back. "Demon did that to me."

I looked at the four claw gash marks that went down his back. The small one on the bottom had nearly healed.

He turned back around and fixed his armor. "I was never going to join them. As egotistical as I am, I'm not so proud to join the stronger side and win this."

"That was nice of you," Light said softly.

"I only did it because if Dark wins, we all die. Including Mark," King Dark finished and looked at Hero, "Except you two."

"Why us?" Hero asked and looked at Tim.

"The rest of us are actually physical embodiments of who Mark is. You, Hero, are the hero within Mark. That's something Dark could never kill. It's also reinforced by everything Mark stands for and everything that's reciprocated by the fans. Meanwhile, Tim isn't either of that." King Dark explained.

"How do you know that?" Light asked, "All of that. I was unaware of all that."

"Dark was rambling about how to kill Hero while the rest of you were pretty easy to destroy." King Dark pointed to his back, "That was all before I decided not to join him in his quest. That's when this happened."

Light was silent. Tim looked around but didn't say anything.

"Where's Wilford?" King Dark asked, breaking the silence.

"Not here. And hopefully he won't show up." Hero snapped.

"Alright." King Dark said, "I guess you need strength over anything else." He suddenly jerked forward. "Ow!"

"Oh good. I'm glad that hurt." Dark said and we all looked around for him. "You should really be on my side." His form appeared by the wall. His skin nearly blended in with the wall. He was holding up his hand towards King Dark.


	8. Chapter 8

King Dark stood up and blocked me. "You shouldn't assume that I belong on your side." He took out a dagger from underneath his belt.

"Oh no!" Dark put his pale hands in front of him and turned away. "My weakness!" He got on one knee. "Small knives! Anything but knives!" He looked up quickly and flicked his fingers at King Dark. Small balls of black strands of darkness flew from each flick. King Dark deflected them with the dagger then looked at Dark.

"You've slipped since I last talked to you." King Dark commented as the others joined him.

Dark slowly stood up and started laughing, "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."

"How are those scars?" Demon spoke from behind us.

King Dark turned around and didn't move. I saw a glow from beside me, though. A moment later a fireball flew from Light's hand.

Demon dodged it easily.

"Still want to fight?" Light asked, turning to Dark.

"Of course," Dark's creepy smile got worse. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Wh…What if I don't want to fight?" Tim asked. His voice was shaky and reflected how scared his was.

Dark's eyes turned to Tim then he moved over to him and towered over him. "You don't have a choice, Tiny." His eyes focused on Hero as he stepped between them and pushed him away from Tim. Dark simply laughed.

"Hero! Look out!" Light shouted as he watched Demon move.

Demon threw Tim to the wall and grabbed Hero's shoulder, threw him into the couch and Dark joined him. Hero got up and put his hand on his back for a moment.

King Dark's dagger flew passed me and Dark dodged it. He looked up at King Dark smiling. "Ooooh, someone's upset." He said as he threw a ball of tendrils at King Dark's hand. It caught his skin and grappled around it. It pulled him to the wall and held him up so his feet couldn't touch the ground.

He glared at Dark and moved to get his sword. Dark threw another at his hand and it pinned his hand to the wall. King Dark looked pissed but couldn't move as Dark hit his ankles as well.

Light moved to protect me. He shielded me with his wings and faced Demon and Dark with his sword.

I looked to see what was happening to King Dark. Dark moved in front of him and held himself up to King's face with a platform of black tendrils. He moved King Dark's hand and stuck it to the wall, completely pinning him down. He dug his fingers under his armor and pulled off his chest piece. He dropped it and clawed through the layers of clothes King Dark wore, exposing his chest.

King Dark kept glaring at Dark, "I will never join you."

Light pushed me back into the wall and his sword clashed with Demon's hand. He held him in place.

I looked back at King Dark. Dark was holding his neck. Black tendrils crossed his skin and moved up his face.

"You don't have a choice, your highness." Dark growled and smiled as it covered his eyes, turning them all black.

"No!" Light yelled and tried to get something from his pocket but Demon pushed on the sword at that exact moment. Light was forced to put his other hand back on the sword handle. "Mark!" He glanced back at me. "Get the communicator out of my pocket!" He kept his eyes on Demon. "We need Hawk's help!"

I looked at Light and nodded. I looked at Demon. His eyes locked onto mine and I didn't move.

"Mark!" Light yelled. I looked at him and he was watching Demon. "Move!" He pushed Demon back a little bit. I jumped forward and reached into Light's pocket. "Whoa!" He jumped, "Other one genius!" Demon clashed with his sword again as I reached into his other pocket and pulled out a small device with a round screen on it. "Press the button on the side and…" Demon lunged forward. Light pushed me backwards again.

I hit the wall pretty hard and saw that Demon was watching me. I looked down at the screen and pushed the button. Nothing happened. "Light, what do I do..."

"What's wrong Light?" She shouted from the other side. She sounded angry. I heard explosions from her side. I think she cussed too.

"Hold the button down Mark!" I did what Light said. "Hawk we need help!"

"I'm a little busy right now Light!" She sounded like she was putting effort into something. "Watch it, Drez!" She shouted at someone else. After a few moments she came back to the communicator and spoke like she was out of breath. "What's wrong Light?"

He was preoccupied with Demon who jolted around his sword.

I breathed in sharply and screamed when Demon put his hand on my throat. "Light!"  
I screamed and clutched the communicator.

"Mark." She whispered. She shouted a lot of words in some alien language and the line went dead.

"No one can save you now!" Demon shouted in my face.

I looked for Light. Dark was holding onto his arms behind his back and kept his claws to his throat. King Dark was still on the wall but his skin was covered in the black tendrils. Hero had been pinned down as well, by Dark's tendrils. He was looking at me.

I gasped for breath as Demon pressed his hand into my neck. I struggled to free myself and grabbed at his hand. Demon pressed his other hand into my stomach and pinned me to the wall. I felt something snake like move down my stomach and cover my legs. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

I heard Light yell from where Dark held him but my blood coursed through my ears and I couldn't hear what he was saying. But I stopped hearing much of anything a moment later. The room started to darken until it all turned black.


	9. Chapter 9

I partially felt myself fall to the floor. A bright light engulfed the darkness and faded quickly. I heard muffled sounds of struggling and then I stopped hearing anything.

I heard my pulse in my ears as it slowed. I couldn't panic about dying. It was just happening. I couldn't stop it.

I kept hoping that maybe I'd see her one last time. Maybe I had actually gotten to talk to her and it wouldn't have been a dream she controlled.

I tried to picture our last adventure. Flying through space, relaxing into her arms as her wings caught fire.

She was right about all that… being relaxing… and being in space like that.

I started to feel weightless. I felt like I didn't need to breathe anymore. My back felt warm.

In the dark abyss I found myself in, I turned to the heat and I saw a small light off in the distance and went over to it. When I walked, it was more like floating. It was easy to control and I actually moved pretty quickly.

The light got brighter and I saw that it was a campfire. It had a log on the other side of the flames. Someone was sitting on it.

This person stood up. As I got closer I realized it was my dad.

"Hey, son. You're early." He spoke to me as I got closer. He held out his arm and I grabbed it. He pulled me into a tight hug and I hugged him back. He let go and held me out. He looked at me. "You've grown into such a wonderful young man," he smiled. "And I couldn't be prouder."

"So I am dead…" I started. He sat me down and sat next to me.

"But you won't be moving on," he said quickly.

"Why not?" I asked and turned to him.

"Because Hawk showed up in time. If you're here, she can bring you back." My dad explained, "But if you go with me, there's no returning to life."

I thought about it, "How do you know all this?"

"They told me before I arrived here." He answered and pointed behind him. "They didn't tell me much but they wanted me to keep you here in limbo until she brings you back."

"I really am supposed to stay alive…" I said thoughtfully.

"Yes," my dad replied. "And you're supposed to be in space, but they respect your decision and won't force you into changing it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Where do you think Hawk is from?" He asked quietly. "I guess you don't remember anything."

"No I don't…" I answered, "She said she would unlock my memories but hasn't yet."

"Oh… hmm," He stopped, probably to rethink what he was going to say. "That choice that you made, when you first met Hawk, was the right choice." He looked around the fire and smiled. He looked at me and looked like the proudest father in the universe. "She's always going to be there for you, my son, keep her close." He hugged me tightly again, "I'm so proud of you." He looked at me again.

My smile was starting to hurt my face. He wiped away tears I didn't know were there.

He looked behind me, "you are stronger than you realize and that strength is the key to your power. Never lose sight of what's important. And…" the light he must have been watching started to engulf us. "…never give up, Mark." He pulled his hands away from my face and scooted back on the log. The light covered us completely. "I love you..." his voice echoed as I was turned towards the source of the light.

I looked back, "I love you too, Dad." I smiled and faced where I was being pulled. I had to close my eyes when the light became unbearable.

I felt something on my chest. I felt like I had to breathe again. The cold air hit my lungs pretty hard. I heard my heart start to beat again. I heard her voice call my name.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. Breathing was weird, even though I was just doing it.

"Thank god," she whispered and wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

I looked at the scene behind her. Blood everywhere. It was soon overrun by how she smelled. The smell was enticing and addictive. It drowned out everything else.

She released me and I sat on my own. I felt my cheeks heat up. She was even prettier in person. Her hazel eyes looked at me tenderly; her long brown hair was tied up, fair skin, high cheek bones. She seems too attractive to do the whole space thing, leading armies into battle.

How do I know that?

She put her hand on my face and smiled, "Hey Mark." She moved closer to me and held onto me. Her lips gently met mine and I felt electricity flow through me. I put my hand on the back of her head and pulled her in.

We kissed more intensely and I felt the wall on my back. I was a little shocked when I felt her move to sit on my lap. She put her other hand on my face and I think she was putting most of her weight on her knees. I felt her skin on my hand. I guess I wanted to put my hand on her thigh.

She pulled away, leaving me to breathe heavily and want more. She looked above me and moved to kiss my forehead.

I felt something spark and then I was bombarded with memories of space and wings, guns, aliens, Hawk… And I was flooded with fear as I saw the real memory of those aliens trying to abduct me.

Hawk moved one of her hands to my shoulder and didn't move away from me for a moment. She held me up as I felt my powers return.

My dad said I made the right choice and now I know what he was talking about.

She held me still as I wanted to lurch forward so badly when my wings appeared. I pressed my head into her stomach as she supported me. I put my hands on her sides below her ribcage and held them there.

I started hearing thoughts from other people.

_"__It'll be over soon, Mark."_ I heard her thoughts float through my head. Telepathy, maybe?

I felt my heart rate increase, along with my senses enhancing. The blood in the room smelled terrible, a lot worse than before and i hated it. But her smell overwhelmed me so much more than a moment ago. At least it was all I could smell. As I looked through my glasses, what I saw around the lenses started being the same, if not better than what I saw through the lenses. It was rolling through my five senses.

I felt her remove my glasses and watched her set them aside.

My sensitivity to touch increased dramatically to almost unbearable. I felt her breath blow through my hair, as calm as her breathing was.

"Keep your eyes open and focus on where my hand is," She whispered.

I looked at her stomach and focused all my sense of touch to her hand on my shoulder. She moved her fingertips a little bit across my skin. I could track each one and figured out where it would move to.

I laughed softly as her hand moved back to my neck, which I followed with my senses as well. She leaned back and sat down on my lap again. She didn't sit too close to my groin, thank god. But she probably already knows.

"You're blushing again, Mark." She said with a smile. _"And I am aware of the boner in your shorts."_

Her thoughts entered my mind again as she leaned over to kiss me again. I felt my face turn red as I kissed her back.

This whole thing was overloading my senses and she knew it.

_"__Your intelligence hasn't lost its strength since you've been dormant," _I heard her thoughts enter my mind again,_ "Which is good, so as soon as you learn how to get into my head, you'll know what I want."_

I was going to try but it was a bit obvious in this moment. I smiled and mumbled, "It's kind of obvious…" my half sentence trailed off with a faint laugh that I didn't intend on turning into a moan.

She smiled and pulled me away from the wall. I sat up with her and moved to where she wanted me to go. She leaned back onto the floor and pulled me with her.

I supported myself on my hands at first, figuring this out, then shifted to my elbows and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and we kissed.

I couldn't think straight anymore and didn't even try as our kisses got more and more intimate.

Was I in control of this perfect moment or was she?

"So, um, glad you're back with us and everything, Mark." I heard Light say from the couch.

I pulled back from her and she was smiling. I sat up and she moved away from me to get up.

"We should really talk about what to do when Dark comes back." Hero said as he tried not to laugh.

She helped me up and didn't let go of my hand. "You should go put on pants or something," She whispered as she looked up at me. 

I nodded and could finally think straight as all of what just happened ebbed away. I headed towards the stairs and heard them talk.


	10. Chapter 10

******POV: Hawk (Off record)**

"Did you have an idea?" I asked Light as Mark went to his room upstairs.

"I thought you had an idea." Light answered, "I needed to interrupt what just happened over there on the floor." He gestured to it from the couch.

As I thought about what to do, Light straightened up and covered his crotch with a pillow.

"What?" I asked.

"We are all linked." Hero sat on the floor. "We know what he's feeling."

"And I'm still wearing my armored pants so it's not even noticeable." King Dark spoke from his chair.

I took off my vest, put it on the couch and sighed, "Well, I'm going to go stop him from giving himself a heart attack and possibly killing himself." I turned to go up the stairs. I saw the bathroom door shut as I got up there. The lock clicked and I stood by the door.

I grabbed the doorknob and broke the door open with a slight tug on the doorknob.

"Whoa!" He shouted and his pants together. "What are you…"

I walked in, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him out of the bathroom. I pushed him into the wall and pinned his arms down. I didn't say anything.

"I need to..." He started.

"No you don't." I said sternly. "That worked as a human but you aren't human right now." I looked into his dilated eyes. Damn it. "Remember what you felt when you first got your powers back?"

He tried to think and couldn't.

"You felt everything. All at once. Remember that?" I explained. "What you want to do will give you sensory overload and that can kill you." I softened my voice. "Focus on something else."

His breathing hadn't calmed down, "Like what?" He groaned and looked down at me. "ow.." He tried to pull his hands free and couldn't.

"Try to smell beyond the pheromones," I suggested. "Beyond how good I smell. What else is there?"

He closed his eyes and tried to focus. "Gun powder?"

"Close enough." I answered, "I smell like war. The gun powder smell is the smell of the planet I was on before I came here." I stopped and waited. He had started struggling again. I loosened my grip to re adjust my grip on his arms and pressed them further into the wall. I looked at him, "You done?"

He started glaring down at me.

I pressed the base of my palms into his wrists and used my bone manipulation powers to keep his arms in place. I put my hands on his stomach. "This is part of that self control lesson I didn't have a chance to teach you."

I pulled away and watched him struggle again.

"When I get down from here…"

"You're gonna what?" I asked and crossed my arms under my chest. "Kill yourself by giving yourself a heart attack?" I paused when he looked up at me.

"You're serious about that?" He asked between breaths.

"Have I lied to you before?" I asked, "I mean when it's important."

He sighed again and I watched his thoughts as they slowly turned from sex to when we were talking before I changed him. He looked at me again, "When did you lie to me?"

"There's your intellect." I commented, "It was more of a half truth. You don't need to know everything yet."

"No, you told me I could come to space whenever I wanted." His thoughts focused on this and it was working. "I haven't been to space since then."

"Not yet." I told him, "You haven't been initiated into the Apprenticeship yet and you are a Dormant agent. There's no way that it's safe for you to go to space, even with me there."

_Just ignore the war going on at this moment and the fact that the ISF's worst enemy is plotting something and needed you for it. Yeah, that's not important. Don't include that. He doesn't need to know any of that._

He didn't really respond for a while. I stepped forward to retract my bone cells that had pinned him to the wall. He stood in front of me.

"You really saved my life didn't you?" He asked.

"Yes I did," I answered and buttoned up his pants.

"That's just a weird thing…"

"What? Not jerking off when you need to?"

"Yeah," he answered. He zipped his pants and buckled the belt.

I lead him downstairs and he stood behind me when I stopped by the couch.

"That could have been bad," Light said.

"Yeah," I said, wrapping Mark's arms around me. "It could have been."

He put his chin on my shoulder, "That's not fair and you know it."

I felt him move closer to me, "Life's not fair." I said as he flexed his biceps. They pushed into my chest which pushed them up a little bit. At least my shirt covered up to my neck still, even though it had all stopped hurting.

"Can you stop toying with him please?" Light asked and sighed as he put the pillow back onto his lap.

"We can all feel what he's feeling." King Dark repeated.

I laughed softly, "I wonder how Dark is doing." my smile faded when I heard someone enter the room.

"Ah, finally you decide to show up." King Dark said as he stood up to greet the new comer.

I'd never seen this one before. He wore an obnoxious striped suit and had a large pink mustache.

"Hawk, this is Wilford Warfstache," King Dark introduced


	11. Chapter 11

I wasn't going to move.

"Yes, I'm glad the goofball could show up," Hero grumbled and looked away from him.

"Yes, I'm glad I get to work with the man in the leotard." He snapped.

"An established rivalry amongst you two won't help us at all." I said over them. I turned around, kissed Mark on the cheek then went over to Wilford. I stopped a few steps away from him. I focused on the air around him.

I lifted my right arm and dug a claw through the air. My tattoo flashed red twice and then stopped.

"What's wrong?" He sounded confused.

King Dark stepped towards me.

I looked at him then Wilford. "I've never known of anyone who could pull love from the world and use it as a power." I stepped into the cloud that apparently only I could see.

Wilford smiled, "Well, Mark has a strong fandom."

"I can see that," I commented and moved back out of the cloud. I turned to Hero, "So why can't you tolerate him?"

Hero didn't answer at first. He crossed his arms over his warfstache logo on his chest and looked at me. "He's a copy cat. He's done everything I've done but he's the one who gets recognition because he exists to the fandom as a real persona." He turned away from us.

"Well maybe you would have been the persona Mark chose if you didn't have the emotional range of a teaspoon and if you were actually entertaining." Wilford snapped.

Hero whipped around and glared at Wilford. "Entertainment has nothing to do with it!" he started raising his voice. "At least I'm not bound by the fate of the soul!"

Wilford held his hand up, "At least I have super powers." He said as he tossed a pink and red swirling ball of energy in his hand.

Hero put his arms down and hovered in place. "I can fly, can you fly?" His cape gently moved behind him. He looked at Wilford and waited for a reply.

"Ladies, ladies you're both pretty!"

I looked around for the source of the voice. I looked around for Dark. He was standing in the edge of the shadows and walked out.

"I wasn't planning on returning, but someone," He looked at Mark, "got so horny that I couldn't plan my next attack, or focus on anything really, so here I am." He turned to me. "And you must be the reason for that." His tone lowered and he moved toward me.

I stood my ground and felt anger flare through me but stopped as he stood in front of me. His skin was paler than I remembered. But maybe that's because I tried to destroy him last time I saw him.

The flare returned and grew into a bright glow. "Really?" I said in all the light. I looked at Inner Demon as it faded away. Inner Demon stood a lot taller than Dark. He's 6'5" or something. I haven't really ever thought about it. He's also never standing this close to me.

"Get away from her," Inner Demon growled at Dark who stepped back a few steps. Inner Demon turned to me. His red eyes looking me over.

"I'm okay," I commented. He smiled and turned back to Dark. His grown out black hair swished with his movements.

Dark looked at Inner Demon. "Who the hell are you?"

"I really hope someone kills you at some point." Inner Demon's deep voice echoed. He turned back to me. "He's not the brightest is he?" I watched him pick up Dark easily.

"No he's not," I replied. "But he doesn't exactly have a full understanding of how to observe through the host."

"Oh, come on, Hawk." He started, "You're not a host."

"I might as well be. You've personified in the last four years." I spoke casually like it wasn't a death situation. "Now put him down and back off."

He let go of Dark. "I'm sorry; I didn't even realize I had picked him up." He watched Dark stumble back. "I'm intimidating, I know." He chuckled and looked at me again. "He's so low on the totem pole…" He put a hand on his face and leaned on it. He gave me the most sarcastic look.

"You already know I've been letting this play through…" I spoke casually.

"But you don't need to make yourself deal with him again," Inner Demon looked down at Dark again.

"I know." I paused and looked at my right hand. I watched a black line form a circle with intricate designs in it. "It's a simple sealing anyway. I don't know what you're worried about."

"He got way too close to you, that's all." He leaned on one leg and grossed his arms. He looked at Mark, "He's okay though."

"Well I'm glad Mark has been approved by my body guard." I said sarcastically and looked at him.

He turned a bit red, "Well… I wouldn't say body guard."

"You didn't let me test his limits so how do you expect this to be any easier?" I asked. "Yeah, he got close." I showed Inner demon my claws. "I can always skewer him alive."

"Or rip his head off." Inner Demon added on. He bobbed his head slightly, thinking. He looked at Dark. "…rip his heart out…" He paused. "I guess you have this handled."

"Yeah and I need to get back…"

"I know. I know." He smiled, "Saving the world and other extreme sports. That's what you like to do." He closed his eyes and returned to where he came from in a bright flash.


	12. Chapter 12

I looked at Dark, "You should probably stay over there."

He didn't reply for a moment. "You've got a 'me' too…"

"I don't have a 'Dark'." I put up my hands for the air quotes. "I have remnants of a very real demon living inside me who has actually combined with my own inner darkness." I took a step towards him. "So yeah, I have a 'you'. But the one I have is infused with a much darker power than you will ever feel."

"Hawk," I heard King Dark say. I turned to him and saw that he was holding up Wilford.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked as I calmed down and straightened up.

Wilford did as well. "Hatred does that to me."

"What? Weakens you? Oh dear, you have a weakness." Hero sassed from the other side of the room.

I watched Dark move close to me again, like that didn't happen. "So you've returned for round two?"

Dark smiled, "Yes actually," He threw up his arm and prevented anyone else from bothering us. The wall of darkness separated me from the rest of them.

I looked up at Dark, "What do you want?"

"The same thing you gave Mark." He said softly and moved me to the wall.

I felt the chill of his touch before he laid a hand on me. His hands were on the wall by my shoulders.

"Are you sure about that?" The tone of voice I used must have triggered something.

He moved in to kiss me and I let him. His kiss was cold, sinister, and I was relieved that it wasn't a long one. "Yes," was his reply and he kissed my cheek, then my neck as he moved his hands under my shirt.

I let my fingertips drift over his skin, sending shivers across his body. He moaned into my neck and seductively kissed my neck again as I stopped above his belt.

He pulled away from my neck, "Come on, you know you want to," he whispered and looked into my eyes.

I smiled and unbuckled his belt. He kissed me again, more intensely as I unbuttoned his pants. I felt his cold fingertips move down my left arm to my hand as I unzipped them.

His lips pulled away from mine. I saw that his eyes were closed. His hand covered my own so I couldn't actually do what I wanted to do. I held my right hand away from him, though.

He breathed heavily as he moved his pants down more. Before he could move his hand back under my shirt I put the palm of my right hand on his hip. I transferred the seal to his skin with a sizzle of hell-fire. He let out a scream of pain and looked at me.

I'm sure my unamused face told him everything. He backed away from me and looked down at the seal on his hip. His hands hovered around it and he fell to the floor screaming. The wall fell and I saw Mark leaning on King Dark.

The same seal showed up on Mark's hip too. I didn't need to see it to know it was there. I wish the placement was better, but Dark kind of had me cornered. It only means that the seal won't hold very long.

I walked over to Mark and supported him. He looked at me. He was in a lot of pain but managed to ask, "Are you okay?"

I smiled, "I'm okay." I helped him to the floor knowing he would fall over anyway.

I turned to Dark. He was still screaming and I looked up to see Demon walking over to him. He was silent but held onto Dark as a typhoon of white energy started swirling around them. Demon turned to me and looked at me as the white energy engulfed them completely.

I watched the typhoon changed into a thin wave of energy and move towards Mark. I held onto him with one arm and undid his pants with the other, pulled down the rim of his boxers to expose the seal. I didn't take my eyes off the typhoon and I kissed Mark's head.

I watched it move closer and closer to the seal on Mark. I held Mark's hand and waited for it to really begin. As soon as the typhoon touched the seal, Mark started screaming. I held him still so it would work. I kept hold of his hand and held it across his chest. I wrapped my other arm around hips, below the seal. His body still writhed a bit but I managed to keep him still enough for the seal to complete the process.

I watched the end of the typhoon go into the seal, glow red for a few seconds and then it turned black. I moved my arms around him and pulled him closer to me.

Mark's screams died down and he held onto my hand. He concentrated on breathing for a long time.

"He's going to be okay right?" Hero asked.

I nodded and didn't look up. "The seal turned black which means that it worked."

Light spoke next. "So will that keep him there forever?"

"Probably not. It would work better on his chest, neck or head. But he had me cornered and I couldn't do much else." I explained as Mark's grip loosened.

"Warn me… next time… would you?" He said between breaths and reached up for me. His hand landed on my cheek and he looked up at me. "What happened behind the wall?"

"He pinned me to the wall, kissed me and almost made me grab him. Which, I'm sure, was the least of what he wanted," I explained quickly.

"Good idea," He sounded out of breath and leaned on me. "So what now?"

"Now that Dark and Demon are gone, we can go back now." Light answered.

"Thanks for your help," I said as the room started glowing.

"What help?" King Dark started, "We distracted them at best."

I smiled, "Then thanks for slowing them down and leaving the best part for me."

"You're welcome." Hero said and looked at Tim. They hugged before Hero disappeared.

King Dark disappeared next, then Light who nodded to me before the light engulfed him.

"We'll be back, I guess." Wilford said before he started blending in with the glow as well.

"Maybe," I replied before he disappeared. He left a puff of pink smoke behind him.

I looked at Tim, "See you next time, Tim." I smiled and he moved over to Mark, knelt down and hugged him the best he could.

He waved as a different wave of light engulfed him. After the light died down, a small Tiny Box Tim plushie was sitting where Tim had just been standing.


	13. Chapter 13

I waved my hand up and the plushie floated to the other side of the couch and dropped.

"Are you going to let me keep my powers this time?" Mark asked, stroking my cheek with his thumb.

"You know I can't…" I answered softly.

"Well, then at least let me keep the memories so I don't keep thinking it's all a dream." He reasoned with me.

"Aye. I can do that." I smiled and leaned over to kiss him. It was different to kiss upside down like this, but it worked.

He stopped and I pulled away, "So are you Spiderman and I'm Mary Jane?"

"I'll be the hero and you can be the damsel in distress." I laughed as I helped him sit up.

"So… Spiderman and MJ or Tony Stark and Pepper?" He asked.

"Tony Stark and Pepper," I chose the stronger pair. "That way neither of us is the damsel in distress."

"Good choice," He said as he tried to sit up. "How do you know that anyway?"

"We have all earth movies that are about super heroes. it keeps morale up, surprisingly." I answered and held my arm up around him, just in case.

"At least it stopped hurting," he commented as he turned around and moved on top of me. "Now, where were we?"

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck and he kissed me. I sighed and made him stop as well. "Before this goes back to you needing help, I should really get going…"

I watched his shoulders slump for a moment but he smiled and kissed me again. "Come back soon, okay?"

"Of course," I smiled. I had a war to return to.

We sat in silence, just looking at each other. I put my hand on his neck and moved to kiss his forehead. I blocked most of his powers but not his memories.

"What did you let me keep?" He asked as I pulled away.

"Your wings," I smiled.

"That's it?" He asked. He looked disappointed.

"It's the only thing I know won't send you on a rampage if you get upset." I answered as I waved my hand to clean up the apartment. I moved my hand in a circle until the blood concentrated down into a solid rock-like substance I could hold. I held onto it so I could put it in a pocket on my vest.

"They'll only break my set up in there," he pointed to his recording set up in the other room as he watched me.

"You'll be fine…" I trailed off as I heard my communicator go off. I got up and found it in my vest. As I held it, I tucked away what I had just made.

"Hawk, it's been over twenty minutes and we are getting smashed out here!" Drex shouted.

"I'm on my way back." I said and hung up. I put my vest on and looked at Mark who was standing next to me.

"You'll come back soon right?" He asked as he hugged me.

"Yes, I will." I kissed his cheek and pulled away from him. "You should stay over there." I said as I opened two portals to the gun display in my room. I waved both of my hands forward and two guns moved through the portals that closed after them. I grabbed one and activated it. They're both three and a half foot long ray guns, specially engineered for space fighting. They shoot out plasma beams, I believe. I activated the other one and held them both up, "Plasmist and Ringskar. I was serious about bonding with your weapon."

Mark couldn't form words.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, held my breath and slowly let it go. I did this until my heart rate calmed way below normal.

I looked at Mark one last time, smiled and jumped backwards into a large multi-layer portal, head first, guns tucked to my side, and it dropped me right into the heart of the war.


	14. Chapter 14

The vacuum of space hit me first, then the heat coming from the nearby star in the uninterrupted view. The massive planet was a lot closer than I had intended.

Malchior taught me how to survive in space a while back and it boiled down to: don't breathe, always regenerate, and control yourself as much as you can because physics works.

I looked around and saw the ships exploding around me. I shut the portal and felt he tug of gravity catch me from the planet we were protecting.

I held myself in control as much as I could, trying not to get pushed around by the much larger masses out here. I held the guns pointed forward and turned towards the planet.

I calculated that I would need to blast through a few enemy ships before crashing down.

The gravity pulled me more and I started moving towards the ships. The constant degeneration of space was combated with my regeneration and it worked a lot better than last time. I could still feel it tear up my skin as it reformed.

I focused on my target: the middle of the front of the first ship.

I started moving faster and faster through the raging war zone. I pointed both guns out in front of me and fired them when I got close enough. The beams blended together and shot straight through the ship. I put the guns on my holsters and plummeted through the hole in the ship. I grabbed onto the bottom panels and support beams and crushed them so I could hold on. My body swung around and I used that to take the ship with me. It moved slowly with me and couldn't fight me. I was too strong, even in zero gravity. But I was also using the planets gravitational pull to help me.

I swung it below me, let it go and watched it crash into another ship. I pulled my guns out again as I started plummeting through the still exploding wreckage.

I blasted through a few ship pieces and finally emerged from it all. I kept my fire resistant guns out in front of me as the air friction caught on.

I could finally breathe in the atmosphere.

The ground got closer much faster than I anticipated. I shot out at the ground, to try to absorb some of the impact. It worked, kind of.

My crash landing wasn't too bad. I left a giant hole in the ground with ripples surrounding it. I also had to heal one of my legs that snapped because it hit the ground wrong. I managed to limp out of the hole and walk away, essentially walking off a broken leg.

I waved my arm up and around me as I heard the first few objects landing around me. The barrier protected me from pieces of the ships that started landing around me as I walked away. A lot of them were still on fire and exploded on impact.

I walked to where the signal came from and I met my crew by our ship.

"Twenty minutes, is twenty minutes, Hawk."

"Yes Captain." I responded. "Double time! Let's get The Phoenix airborne!"

The crew got on the ship and I went to my seat, well the captain's seat but he was at one of the other guns.

As the ship got off the ground I stood in front of my seat and felt my feet sink into the footholds as they shifted to fit me. the base of the footholds was designed to keep me, or the user, in place and protected from the backlash of the gun on the front of the ship. A half ring of metal move out of the floor and opened up a few panels showing gauges connected to the gun. A replica of the back of the gun connected to the ring and had two hand holds on it.

I braced myself as we left the planet's atmosphere and reentered the war. I analyzed the scene and smiled. My grip tightened on the handholds and the green light on the metal bar showed the gun was at full power.

"Let's get this done!" I shouted before pulling back on the handholds. I saw the beams shoot out like machine gun bullets. It hit the target and I saw the other gun getting its target as well. I steered the platform by making slight position adjustments with my feet. The gun moved with me and I pulled back again and held it there.

Target hit. Target destroyed. Adrenaline taking over so much I started taking the other gun's targets.

The backlash was killer. I felt it in my arm muscles mostly as I leaned forward more than I should have onto the handholds.

I looked out at the war we were winning and laughed to myself. "I love my job." I pushed down on the handholds to aim the gun upwards and braced myself as I pulled back…

**ISF Unlogged Data Transmission Interrupted **

This war was the turning point in a few different eras of the ISF. That's significant for the organization I run. However, it doesn't involve the rest of the story I'm telling so I won't be adding more detail.

Hawk, signing off.

**End Data Transmission **


End file.
